Upper Big Sioux Watershed
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In order to count this Earthcache as a find, you must complete the following task and email the answers to me.
1. Describe the appearance of the river.
2. Explain what the river does at this location in terms of flowing direction.
3. What is the pH level of the river? What would account for the pH?
4. What has been done to help the riverbank?
5. What man-made structure do you see at the river? What is its purpose?
This Earthcache is located at Hanten Park, a lesser known/used park in Watertown. The Big Sioux River flows nearby and marks the eastern boundary of the park. This park doesn’t offer any playground equipment, shelters, or picnic tables, but it does offer a good view of the river. Enjoy!
When glaciers moved through the area 20,000 years ago, they left gouges in the land that were eventually filled in with water and became streams and rivers. The glaciers also left behind glacial debris across the plains that we recognize as gently rolling hills. These veins of water, streams, and rivers work together to drain water from the land in a system called a watershed.
A watershed is an area of land where water from rain and melting snow or ice drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, wetland, sea, or ocean. A watershed district includes both the streams and rivers that carry the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels. A watershed district acts like a funnel and collects all the water within the area and channels it into a waterway. Picture a tree with branches and limbs stemming off from the trunk. That is essentially what a watershed looks like. Each watershed is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a drainage divide--a geographical barrier such as a ridge, hill, or mountain. all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place.
Watersheds can be found in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state, and national boundaries. In the continental United States, there are 2110 watersheds; including Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, there are 2267 watersheds.
Watersheds play a significant role in determining how water moves through the basin, and consequently impacts issues such as water quality and quantity (including flooding) in a give place.
It is important to note that individual watersheds are not self-contained entities; rather, they are pieces of a puzzle incorporated into larger surrounding watersheds that represent only a small portion of the greater hydrologic cycle. Each watershed drains into a larger watershed, which drains into an even larger watershed.
Watersheds are important because they provide economic benefits, recreation, flood prevention, and scenery. Thinking on a watershed-level makes protecting and improving local water resources much more manageable. Traditionally, water quality improvements focus on specific sources of pollution, such as sewage discharges, or specific water resources, such as a river segment or wetland. Watersheds are also important because they are often the source of drinking water for communities.
Watertown is located in the Upper Big Sioux Watershed District. Lakes Kampeska and Pelican, along with the Big Sioux River, are included in this watershed. The Upper Big Sioux Watershed is the second largest of three main watersheds in eastern South Dakota. The Big Sioux River and its four tributaries drain into the Missouri Watershed, which drains into the Mississippi Watershed, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Big Sioux River controls both surface and shallow groundwater movement in the watershed, and provides drinking water to one-third of the population of South Dakota from the river and its aquifers. The upper portion of the river delivers water to Lakes Kampeska and Pelican as it passes the lakes. Kampeska and Pelican become water storage areas during the spring snowmelt and storm events as water spills into the lakes and must exit from the same locations.
The major pollutants in the watershed--particularly abundant in Lakes Kampeska and Pelican--are phosphorus and sediment. The Big Sioux River was identified as the major nutrient and sediment source of both problems.
From its origin to Lake Kampeska, the Big Sioux River carries runoff from a 212,707-acre watershed basin to Lakes Kampeska and Pelican as it travels south to its confluence with the Missouri River near Sioux City, Iowa. An additional 13,065 acres bordering Lake Pelican and 19,627 acres on Lake Kampeska increases the Upper Big Sioux River watershed to 245, 399 acres.
The Big Sioux River meanders through a wide floodplain. Its banks are subject to extensive erosion caused by extended spring runoff and large storm events. These events carry upland and floodplain runoff from croplands and rangeland. High concentrations of nutrients and solids are carried by the Big Sioux River to both lakes from livestock feeding operations, grazing lands, and row-crops. Extended livestock access to streambanks and the use of pesticides that remove plants from the river and tributary banks increase the potential for erosion.
Ninety percent of the nutrients and sediments dumped into Kampeska and Pelican are carried by the Big Sioux River. Shoreline erosion also contributes to the amount of sediment and nutrients found in the lakes. Like most lakes in this region, the water quality impairments are due in part to the shallow depth of the lakes and the deep silt deposits present. The elevated phosphorus levels in the lakes--especially Kampeska--also promote algae blooms and add to the poor water quality.
The Upper Big Sioux River Watershed Project was created to improve water quality in the Upper Big Sioux River watershed, including Lakes Kampeska and Pelican. The project is designed to reduce the nutrient and sediment loads entering the lakes and to implement a pollution prevention program. Some of the main goals of the project are to offer financial and technical assistance as well as information and education to help control erosion and excessive fertilizer runoff: in cropland through grassed waterways and manure application management; to improve pastureland conditions, distance livestock and livestock waste from the river and its tributaries, through grazing management, small ponds and dugouts, streambank and shoreline stabilization, and animal nutrient management systems.
Resources:
Williams, Mike, and Jane Mullin. Upper Big Sioux Watershed Project Continuation. Publication. Watertown, SD, 2005. Print.
NOT A LOGGING REQUIREMENT: Feel free to post pictures of your group at the area or the area itself - I love looking at the pictures.
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